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Science Olympiad at the USIC: There will be a Science
Olympiad (SO) competition at the 2001 US Indoor Championships
(USIC). This will expose SO participants to our activities, and
perhaps result in some recruits for AMA.
Tom Sanders of Midwest Products Co., Inc. will issue invitations
to SO coaches, who will select the contestants.
Many helpers are needed for timing and other chores associated
with the competition. All USIC entrants are invited to help. Those
who do help will get a great deal of satisfaction, and will learn
things about modeling they never expected.
Up-and-coming Junior Indoor fliers in the Atlanta GA area have the
good fortune to be able to watch Parker Parrish develop his skills.
Parker flew in a Cat. II record trials in November 2000, and
posted times for five records that are now being homologated.
These times are: 4:59 in MiniStick, flying a copy of Stan
Chilton’s new MiniStick design (UFO); 7:50 in F1D Stick, with a
copy of Darryl Stevens’ DRS 55cm F1D; 10:45 in Easy B and
Intermediate Stick, with a .6-gram copy of Larry Coslick’s 1992
USIC Easy B winner; and 7:58 in Indoor Stick, again with the DRS
55cm F1D (still flying with a .58-gram motor).
John Barker and others in the Atlanta area, please keep us up to
date on Parker!
Web Site Reminders: Glenn Davison maintains a Web site about
Indoor model airplanes at http://people.ne.mediaone.net/indoor/.
This page has a lot of information about Indoor aircraft in the US
and around the world. Visit this site.
If you’re not already on the Indoor List, send your E-mail address to
me at [email protected] to receive any late-breaking news I receive.
Tim Goldstein has a very informative Indoor page at
http://indoorduration.com. His site concentrates on Easy B and F1D.
electric Free Flight:At the start of the rules cycle that finishes December
31, 2001, Bob Wilder submitted a proposal that encourages development
of electric-powered Indoor Free Flight (FF) Duration models.
Beginning January 1, 2002, the event will be open for
competition and eligible for national records. Now is the time to
Bud Tenny, Box 830545, Richardson TX 75083
FREE FLIGHT INDOOR
Photo One. Who was launching this Paper Stick model in 1964?
Photo Two. Where was this F1D model about to be launched in 1966?
Photo Three. This model was about to be flown in what
well-known site?
develop your models so you can grab the
record early in 2002!
The model specifications are simple: the
power can be no more than two nickelcadmium
50 mA cells and the model must
weigh no more than one ounce. There are no
other restrictions or requirements.
From Indoor News and Views: “A
Junior’s Analysis of the Junior Problem”
by Nick Leonard Jr.
“One growing problem that has for
years been looming is the lack of juniors
flying indoor. Juniors have not
completely disappeared from the scene.
There is a group of them from the town
of Smyrna [TN] that flies at Johnson
City every year.
“This is a great program that has really
brought much good to USIC. However,
outside of this group there are perhaps five
juniors in the US actively flying indoor.
From what I have heard, at one point many
years ago, hundreds of people (and many
juniors) would attend the indoor Nationals.
What has happened to these hordes?
“I have much first hand experience with
those in my age group. In fact, I live with
nearly forty of them during the school
year. This contact has answered the
question above very clearly. To answer it
within a reasonable length, we should first
define what an indoor flier has, rather than
doesn’t have.
“Now, I will use F1D as the example
here because I know more about them than
other classes. Also F1D is indoor carried out
to the farthest point; the most extreme and
therefore the best for illustrating my point.
“Personal properties: An F1D flier needs
to have his wits about him. He needs to have
extreme motor control in the hands. He must
be accurate and motivated. He needs to be a
bit of a perfectionist. He must be very
patient. He must have a fairly long-term
view of things; a long interest span firmly
on building and flying. I believe he must
enjoy what he does.
“This is a moderately long list of
requirements, but some of these are
developed over time. This is where my
observations bring the problem to light.
Most American male teenagers are by nature
rebellious. Many are more destructive than
constructive. Laziness, lethargy, and video
games plague nearly all.
“They generally have short-term goals
and constantly need action or some sort of
‘interest booster.’ Many despise school
and thinking in general. Noise is a must. I
had the ‘privilege’ of attending my first
‘dance party’ this last year, and it was
truly gruesome.
“An oppressively hot and humid
atmosphere in the dark with bright lights
flashing everywhere, all while being
serenaded by what I can only describe as
a sickening screeching excuse for music.
But no one else thought this was bad. In
fact, many rated it among the best they
had attended.
“If this is a good time, then you have to
admit that taking the rpm of an F1D prop at
100 feet inside the silent ETSU [East
Tennessee State University] Mini-dome
while discussing a balance problem between
the blades of your prop is worse than death.
“There is some evidence that the above
characteristics are a large part of the cause.
Teens of third world countries cannot share
in the luxuries of their American
counterparts. They may have a clearer idea
of the value of actions. They certainly are
not plagued by the curse of Nintendo.
“That may account for the fact in the last
World Champs there was one junior from
west of Poland and why Romania has a full
team of juniors competing for the three spots
on their world team.
“However, there are still some American
candidates left in the running. ‘Nerds’ like
myself mostly. In the development of a
junior flier, there is a large random element
as well. These candidates have to be
introduced to the real problem arises.
“It is extremely difficult for a lone junior
to accomplish much at all. A supporter,
preferably a model builder, needs to be
present. Whether it is a father, a friend, or a
local flier, this position is critical. Indoor is
not intuitive at all—a person needs to be
shown the ropes, or at least have someone to
muddle them out with.
“This is where we may lose almost all.
130 M ODEL AVIATION
May 2001 131
Nearly all advanced juniors have some
‘partner’ that flies with them. I am
extremely fortunate to have my father. The
point is, a junior needs to have a person (or
people) to consult and fly with.
“By answering the above question I have
only defined the problem. Logically, one
would next ask, ‘How can we solve this
problem?’ This I cannot claim to have the
answer to. In reality I do not even know if
there is a solution to it.
“Indoor, and F1D in particular, is so
difficult and time consuming that it takes a
very rare combination of traits and chance.
American Junior F1D flying may be
perpetually limited to very few, very
remarkable juniors.”
philosophy? I’ve lost track of who sent
the following, but it touched me. Who will
claim it?
“Do You remember? Have you ever
collected tales of what pushed us over
the edge into modeling? When I was
about ten, there were no, repeat no,
hobby shops in my area of upstate NY.
NY City, maybe.
“When we went to our big shopping
town, Auburn NY, there was a department
store that had a hobby department. In those
days, 25 cents was a lot of money for a kid.
I had saved up a quarter and I bought a
Whitman kit of a WACO D, which was the
one with the flexible gun in the rear cockpit,
for sale to banana republics.
“In those days, the glue was in the kit. A
little tube, and a glass vial with corks in
both ends holding ‘banana oil.’ I built the
airplane and used the ‘banana oil’ to cover
it. The banana oil dissolved the glue and it
slumped into a pile of sticks. I cried for a
week or two, but then came the real
deciding moment.
“I saved up another quarter, and we went
to Auburn and I bought the same kit again.
Just stubborn and dumb, I guess. This time I
asked questions about covering and got told
about mucilage. I finished it, and covered it,
and lawd, was it beautiful to me! It would
fly the length of the front porch! The
Decisive Moment … ”
My Great Experience happened after I
built a JASCO rise-off-ground model. It
took off of the front porch with the light
breeze blowing along the length of the
porch, and gained a few feet of altitude.
As the burst decayed, the model lost
headway and altitude, and finally landed
just behind the takeoff point. After that, I
removed the wheels and hand-launched it
hundreds of times. I was hooked.
a look at the Past—Who Are They? I’ve
included three photos from major
competitions. I’ll furnish the date and some
other hint(s), and you supply the contestant
name(s) and venue(s).
Photo One shows a Paper Stick (now
called Intermediate Stick) model being
launched in 1964.
Photo Two shows a 90cm F1D model
(barely visible) being prepared for a test
flight in 1966.
Photo Three shows a contestant
and helper preparing to fly a
microfilm model in the 1962-1970
time frame. Name the contestant, the
helper, and the site.
Times have changed! I referred to
various AMA rule books when I was
preparing the previous photo
questions. The whole rule book was
30 pages in 1956. The Indoor rules
used 1.3 pages to define 11 model
classes, and .3 pages to define Indoor
Hand-Launched Glider.
The current rule book (1999-2001) is
174 pages long. It uses almost seven
pages to describe 19 Indoor events,
including an excerpt on steering from the
FAI rule book.
The actual definitions of F1D and
F1L are not included; readers are referred
to the FAI Sporting Code for those. MA
